Bulldogs run past Huskies

Texas Lutheran's time at the NAIA Southwest Region baseball tournament will be better spent this year than it was last year. Kelly Huck made sure of that.

The senior righthander from Round Rock Westwood carried a shutout into the eighth inning and finished with a complete game as the 10th-ranked and fourth-seeded Bulldogs beat fifth-seeded Houston Baptist 9-1 Wednesday in a first-round game at Hays Field.

Texas Lutheran (43-11 overall), which will play second-ranked Oklahoma City University (52-11) or 19th-ranked University of Mobile (38-13) at 7 p.m. today, went home early from last year's Southwest Region tournament with two losses.

"It's a hell of a deal, you come in here and get in the winners' bracket after the first round," Huck said. "It gives you something to shoot for. That makes it a little easier to go through the tournament."

Huck (8-4) struck out only three but coaxed two double plays and 10 other infield outs. He yielded two hits through six innings. Battling back stiffness as the game progressed, Huck stranded six runners the final three innings.

"I had hit a low spot lately, actually," Huck said. "I had lost my last couple of starts. I guess today was a pretty good confidence builder."

Josh Wheeler hit a three-run homer with one out in the top of the ninth as sixth-seeded and 18th-ranked Oklahoma Baptist overcame No. 3 seed St. Mary's.

The homer rescued the Bison (42-20) from a 4-2 deficit. Closer Randy Miller pitched the ninth for his eighth save. Miller loaded the bases with one out but milked a game-ending double play from Joshua Coy.

It was the third victory this season at Hays Field for Oklahoma Baptist, which previously had a 13-game losing streak in Lubbock dating to 1992.

"This is getting a little better not any easier," Bison coach Bobby Cox said. "But at least we were able to win. Getting Lubbock's (home) dugout was the key."

The loss went to left-handed screwball pitcher Fernando Tadefa (8-5), who had no-hit Incarnate Word through seven innings last Saturday in an elimination game at the Heart O' Texas Conference tournament.

St. Mary's (35-21) got an RBI single and a two-run homer from Oracio Garza in the first three innings and led all the way until Wheeler's shot to left field.

"I hope that kind of broke the ice a little bit," Cox said. "(Tadefa) was keeping us pretty much in check."

The Bison turned a triple play in the second that started with a liner to shortstop Gene Stanley.